INSIDE
EOU TRACK ATHLETE EARNS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN MEN’S HEPTATHLON | SPORTS, A9
March 12, 2022
WEEKEND EDITION
$1.50
DAYLIGHT
SAVING TIME
SUNDAY, MARCH 13
Don’t forget to turn
clocks ahead one hour.
‘I’m
thankful
for what we
received’
County leaders
generally pleased
with results from
short session
By DICK MASON
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Mem-
bers of the Union County
Board of Commissioners
are generally pleased with
how the recently completed
legislative session went, but
all admit some aspects of it
left them frustrated.
More than $10 million in
one-time funding for Union
County projects was con-
tained in House Bill 5202,
which provided funding
throughout the state.
“It is
always a
battle for
rural areas but
I’m thankful
for what we
received,”
Commissioner
Beverage
Donna Bev-
erage said.
Commis-
sioner Paul
Anderes also
feels good
overall about
the short ses-
Anderes
sion, which
concluded
Friday,
March 4.
“It was a
bit of a whirl-
wind but I
think it went
Scarfo
well overall,”
he said.
Among the things he
was excited to see was $1
million being provided to
the Union County Fair-
grounds to help fund
A personal vehicle fi lls up at a Chevron gas station on Island Avenue, La Grande, on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Gas and diesel prices have risen to record highs
following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Driving up gas prices
Gas prices soar as
Russian invasion in
Ukraine continues
By ALEX WITTWER
EO Media Group
L
A GRANDE — Gas
prices are soaring to
record highs amid the
Russian invasion of Ukraine,
sparked by fears that NATO
countries may begin enacting
additional sanctions against Rus-
sian crude oil.
In the United States, President
Joe Biden announced a ban on
Russian oil on Tuesday, March 8.
Crude oil prices briefl y sky-
rocketed to more than $130 on
March 8, the highest it’s been
since 2008, and nearly doubling
since December.
Oregon has seen gas prices
rise to more than $4.50 a gallon,
while some areas of Portland
have sold gas as high as $6 a
gallon. Diesel prices have risen
above $5 a gallon.
“I just came from Arizona,
and this is the highest price
I’ve seen for diesel,” said Diane
Miller, a competitive barrel
racer who was traveling home to
Moses Lake, Washington, after a
three-week trip to Arizona.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
A sticker at a Sinclair gas station in Union makes light of the increasing gas prices
on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Gas and diesel prices have risen to record highs
following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Geopolitical risk
Miller paid more than $140 to
fi ll up half a tank of diesel at the
Chevron station in Island City
on March 10. She said that she’s
able to aff ord the increased costs
at the pump, but she knows sev-
eral people who aren’t. Miller
said she will have to pay for
more expensive diesel prices
all summer as she competes in
barrel racing competitions.
“It’s defi nitely hard on
America,” Miller said. “It’s a
bad deal, and I don’t think it
would be this way if Trump
would have stayed in.”
According to the U.S. Energy
Information Agency, the geo-
political risk related to Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine has contrib-
uted to higher and more volatile
crude oil prices. But Russia’s oil
footprint on the U.S. market is
minimal; less than 10% of the
U.S. demand for oil is fi lled by
Russian suppliers, or approxi-
mately 600,000-800,000 bar-
rels per day, according to J.P.
Morgan. In comparison, the
U.S. produces nearly 12 million
barrels per day domestically,
according to the American Fuel
and Petrochemical Manufac-
turers trade association. Still, the
U.S. is a net importer of oil.
It has left many at the pump
wondering why exactly gas
prices have risen so dramatically.
“The U.S. does not get a lot
of oil from Russia,” said Marie
Dodds, director of government
and public aff airs at AAA Oregon/
Idaho. “Only about {span}3% of
our imported oil ({/span}{span}8%
of our imported oil{/span}{span}
and refi ned products) {/span}last
year came from Russia, but Europe
gets a lot of oil from Russia,
roughly 25%, so any time you take
a big chunk of supplies away, it
sends prices higher. It’s basically
supply and demand, as we learned
back in economics 101. When you
have a major global producer of
oil, Russia, and its product is taken
off the global markets, all of the
sudden you have to look around
and fi gure out where that oil is
going to come from.”
Two records, two years
At the start of the COVID-19
pandemic, oil prices fell to their
lowest price in history, reaching
negative values in April 2020. That
spurred producers to cut output as
oil tankers sat outside ports, unable
See, Gas/Page A7
See, County/Page A7
Conservationists hail $5M investment in preserving farmland
Move will fund program
that was set up in 2017
but never received any
funding
By LYNNE TERRY
Oregon Capital Chronicle
SALEM — Oregon was among
the fi rst states to develop land use
laws but that’s not stopped the con-
version of farmland into hundreds
of thousands of acres of housing
and industrial sites over a decade.
But an investment just approved
by the Legislature could stem that
trend by putting money into the
pockets of farmers and ranchers
to support their operations and
allow them to keep the land in their
family.
As part of the supplemental
budget approved in the short ses-
sion, lawmakers invested $5 million
in the Oregon Agricultural Heritage
Program, which is tasked with pre-
serving farmland. But since it was
set up in 2017 under the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board, a
state agency that off ers grants to
preserve waterways, wetlands and
WEATHER
INDEX
Classified ......B2
Comics ...........B5
Crossword ....B2
Dear Abby ....B6
TUESDAY
Horoscope ....B4
Local...............A2
Lottery ...........A2
Obituaries .....A5
Opinion .........A4
Outdoors ......B1
Sports ............A9
Sudoku ..........B5
natural areas, the heritage program
has never been funded.
Now the program has money to
do its job — and at an opportune
time.
“Many of our farmers and
ranchers are approaching retire-
ment and looking to pass on their
operations to the next generation,”
said Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane.
“This fund will help ensure Ore-
gon’s farmlands stay in production,
supporting clean air, clean water,
wildlife habitat, rural economies
and our Oregon way of life.”
The heritage program will buy
conservation easements or devel-
Full forecast on the back of B section
Tonight
Sunday
36 LOW
45/33
A few showers
Rain and drizzle
opment rights from landowners,
according to Kelley Beamer, exec-
utive director of the Coalition of
Oregon Land Trusts. She said that,
in turn, will make it easier for
the watershed board to preserve
waterways.
“It’s really easy for them to work
with one landowner to manage
that riparian area,” Beamer said.
“But when a ranch is subdivided
and broken into pieces and you’re
dealing with 10 diff erent owners,
it’s a lot harder to achieve that con-
tiguous success. So this program
See, Farmland/Page A7
CONTACT US
541-963-3161
Issue 31
2 sections, 16 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
More contact info
on Page A4.
STUDENTS COMPETE IN WEIGHT LIFTING PROGRAM Online at lagrandeobserver.com